Flexible pocket receptacle



Aug, 2U, H935. w. R. BUxToN FLEXIBLE POCKET RECEPTACLE Filed Aug. 22, 1953 i 2 snee'ts-sheet 1 INVENTOR BY WAR/VER Ruxa/v ATiORNE Aug. 20, 19.35.v W. R. BUxToN FLEXIBLE POCKET RECEPTACLE 2 sheets-sheet 2 Filed Aug. 22, 1955 ATTORNEYS Cil Patented Aug. 20, 1935 UNITED sTATEs PATENT OFFICE 4 Claims.

'This invention relates to improvements in flexible pocket Ireceptacles such as bill folds, and the like.

The invention is particularly directed to an improvement in bill folds or the like of the type shown in my prior U. S. Letters Patent No. 1,866,618, granted July 12, 1932, or any other type, wherein the inner wall of the bill compartment (exposed to the innermost bill) is composed of sections some of which are fixed to and moved with the outer wall and at least one of which is slidable relatively thereto when the bill fold is moved to open and close the same. In such bill folds the larger part of the area, exposed to the innermost bill in the bill compartment is presented by said fixed sections and the lesser part is presented by the relatively movable section. Also, the .inner and adjacent end edges of the fixed inner wall sections lie in closely-spaced and parallel relation.

With such an arrangement of -the inner wall sections there is an inherent tendency to cause buckling of the'central and relatively slidable section of the inner wall near the central portion thereof and/or to cause buckling of the innermost bills in the bill compartment. In many cases, the buckling does not occur but the tendency to cause bucking is there and, since it exists, buckling will occur when other conditions also conducive to buckling, are present. Trouble is frequently experienced, when the bill compartment is overloaded, and sometimes when the bill fold is made of leathers which are too soft or too rou'gh surfaced. This invention is directed to and has for its object the elimination of the aforesaid tendency and the troubles resulting therefrom by a change in construction of the inner wall of the bill fold, characterized by a different4 distribution of the relative areas of the -inner wall, which are exposed to the bills in the bill compartment, whereby the larger exposed area is presented by the relatively slidable central section of the inner wall and the lesser exposed area is presented by the end sections which are fixed to the outer wall of the bill fold.

The invention also provides for a different disposition of the inner and adjacent end edges of the inner wall end sections, which are xed to the outer wall,'characterized in' that such edges are disposed in downwardly diverging relation, being more widely spaced toward the bottom of the bill v'compartment than near the top thereof.

The invention also hasl for an object the -provision of improved means for centralizing the central and relatively slidable section of the inner wall with respect to its relatively stationary end sections, characterized in that the centralizing function may be effected in bill folds which are not provided with partitions.

Other objects will appear as the detailed description proceeds and will be pointed out in the appended claims.

The invention will be disclosed with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which.-

Fig. 1 is a front elevational View of la bill fold embodying the invention,-the bill fold being shown in open and bill-receiving position:

Fig. 2 is a top plan thereof:

Fig. 3 is a. sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2:

Figs. 4 and 5 are developed views of the two blanks from which the bill fold is made:

Figs. 6 and 7 are top plan views showing a prior art bill fold partially folded and completely folded, respectively, and illustrating a. condition of faulty operation which the present invention is designed to overcome:

Figs. 8 and 9 are views taken similarly to Figs. 1 and 3, respectively, but showing a modification; and

Fig. l0 is a cross sectional view of the bill fold similar to that shown in Fig. 1 but provided with a partition.

The first form of bill fold, shown in open position in Fig. 1 is made up from the two blanks of leather, or other suitable flexible material, shown separately in Figs. l and 5. The blank shown in Fig. l includes a substantially rectangular part i5, which forms the outer wall of the bill fold and is provided'intermediate its ends with a transf verse line of fold I6. Extending one from each cnd of wall I are end flaps Il', each foldable along a line I8, corresponding to an end edge of the outer wall. Connected to the lower side edge of the outer wall and foldable along the lines of fold I9 are two flaps 20, which are disposed on opposite sides of the line of fold I6 and form the outer plies of the relatively stationary tubular end sections of the inner wall of the bill fold.

.The flaps are adapted to be folded on lines I9 upwardly and over and upon outer wall I5, after which the end flaps Il are folded inwardly, overlapped on naps 20 and secured thereto in any suitable manner. As shown, each flap 20 is slotted, as at 2| to receive a tab 22 on the ad jacent end liap I 1, `whereby such iiaps may be inone, and usually both as shown of such sections when the outer Wall is folded along line I6. The section 23 has a transversely disposed fold line 24, and adapted to aline with the line of fold I6.

to the upper side edge 26 of the associated flap '20. Each iiap 25, as herein shown, is approximately right triangular in shape. The exact shape of the flaps 25 is not, however, material and the important thing is that the ap is of less width near its lower than near its upper end and of less height near its inner than at its outer end. It presents an oblique edge 21 which is disposed approximately diagonally with respect to the flap 20. However, this edge 21 need not necessarily be straight as shown.

Preferably, means are provided for centralizing the sliding piece 23. As shown a slot 28 is provided in each fold line 26 near the outer end thereof and each such slot slidably receives a projection 29 upstanding from the sliding piece 23. These projections are concealed by ears 30 upstanding from flaps I1. When the bill fold is open, as shown in Fig. l, the projections 29 abut the inner ends of slots 28. If the sliding piece 23 was not centralized with respect to the outer wall I5, or in other words if the lines of fold I6 and 24 were not in line, one projection 29 would abut the end of its slot 28 before the other and thereby move the sliding piece 23 relatively to the outer wall. When the bill fold is closed by folding it along the lines I6 and 24 to superpose one half upon the other. the projections 29 move outwardly in slots 28. The arrangement described causes the sliding piece 23 to be centralized each time the bill fold is opened and insures that at the start of the closing operation the line of fold 24 lies in line with the line of fold IB and that the sliding piece will start to fold along the predetermined line of fold 24 rather than elsewhere.

The invention is shown in Figs. 8 and 9 as embodied in a different form of pocket boolc-onc which is of much greater width than that described and one which is substantially as wide as it is long. In this case the end sections 3| of the inner wall are covered in part by superposed wings 32 and both said sections and wings are stitched along their outer and lower edges to the outer and lower edges of the outer wall 33,-the stitch lines being marked 34. The central and slidable section of the inner wall is shown at 35 and lies between the sections 3l and the outer Wall, overlapping to a large extent said end sections. To provide runways for the upper edge of the sliding piece 35 a triangular flap 36 is turned inwardly and downwardly from the upper edge of each end section 3| to lie between such section and the outer wall. The flaps 36, it will be seen, are just large enough to provide sufficient runways for the upper edge of member 35. They extend less than half way down on their associated sections 3| and, since they are so short, it is thought preferable to fasten them in place, as by securing them along with the sections 3I and 32 by the stitchings 34 to the outer wall. Otherwise, these flaps might pull out and release the sliding piece 35. As in the flrst form of the invention, the piece 35 has projections 31. upstanding from its upper edge, one at each end thereof, and these projections are slidably received in slots 38 formed in the fold lines between the aps 3l and 35. These projec tions function to centralize the sliding piece 35 in the same'manner as do the projections 29 heretofore described. In this case, the wings 32 extend upwardly far enough to cover and conceal the projections 31. The outer wall 33 and the sliding piece 35 are provided, as before, with centrally located and transversely-disposed lines of fold 39 and 40, respectively.

In some cases, the bill fold of Fig. l is provided With a partition for subdividing the bill compartment, which is formed between the outer wall I5 and the inner wall and which comprises the parts 25 and 23. In such case, the partition, which is simply a rectangular piece of leather of labout the same size and shape as the sliding piece 23, is suitably secured along its lower edge to the lower edge of piece 23. The construction in all other respects is the same. In Fig. 10, such a partition 4I is shown as secured by stitchings 42 to the lower edge of the sliding piece 23. In this, as well as someother figures, the bills are marked b.

From Fig. 1, it will be seen that the bills b are enough shorter than the bill compartment so that they do not engage the lower ends of the flaps 25 and that the bill which lies adjacent the piece 23 will contact with it along the entire lower edge portion thereof. Also, it will be seen that more than half the area of such bill is in direct contact with piece 23 and, if desired, a greater area of contact may be had by reducing the size of the flaps 25. These may be materially reduced in size, as will be clear from Fig. 8, in the case of flaps 36. All that is neces' sary of these flaps is to provide runways for the upper edge of piece 23 and these need not be and preferably are not, of great length and, regardless of their length, the flaps need not and preferably do not extend vertically downward for any great distance although, if they do not do so, it is desirable to firmly fasten them in place. v

In Figs. 6 .and 7, I have illustrated a prior art bill fold, in which the parts, which correspond generally with the bill fold shown in Fig. 1 have been marked with corresponding` reference numerals primed. The aps 25 are not, however, shaped like the flaps 25 but are rectangular and nearly of the same area as the section 25). A relatively small area only of the sliding piece 23 is exposed in the bill compartment, such area being that between the adjacent inner end edges of flaps 25 which are parallel. While such a bill fold is practical and workable, it does under some conditions, and especially after it has been in service for a long time, cause trouble when a heavy load of bills is carried in the bill compartment. The trouble does not always occur but it is more liable to occur with bill folds which are made of rather soft leathers or of leathers which have a rough surface. The bills b exert pres- .sure on `the flaps 25 and interfere with free sliding movement of member 23. This member at each end and over the larger part of its area. is pressed between the flaps 25 and 28 and thus there is considerable frictional resistance presented to its movement, when the bill compartment is well lled with bills. Cards inserted in the trouble worse.

the pockets between the flaps 20 and sliding member 23 will have the same effect and these pockets are often stuffed with cards. The pinching action of the sliding member 23 is greatest along its lower edge near the bottom of the bill compartment and is least, and usually negligible, along its upper edge near the open top of the bill compartment. When the bill fold is moved toward its closed position, the tubes, formed between the flaps 20 and 25', are moved inwardly on the member 23. The member 23' starts to bend along its central line of fold at the very start of the folding movement and unless the tubes slide in easily over this piece 23', it will be forced to buckle. Near the lower edge lof member 23' there is considerable frictional resistance and the tubes do not slide in easily while near its upper edge there is little resistance to the inward movement of the tubes. If the tubes do not easily slide in on the member 23', and with a heavy load of bills they do not, then the member 23 must buckle. It starts to buckle somewhat in the manner shown in Fig. 6 and, once the buckling is started, there is further impedance to the necessary relative sliding movement -between the member 23 and its tubes, which makes The final result is shown in Fig. 7. The piece 23 has been bent sharply, almost at right angles to` its tubes and has become doubled over and bound in its distorted condition in such a manner that no amount of pressure exerted on the sides of the bill fold (in the direction of the arrows 44 in Fig. 7) will cause the member 23 to feed into its tubes. The trouble starts because the member 23' is pinched at its lower edge between the parts 2li and 25 with relation to which it has to slide. On the very first part of the movement of folding the bill fold to close it, the member 23 is bent around the inner end edges of the flaps 25', 'thus making sliding more diicult and buckling of the member a certainty. It will be understood that the disadvantageous condition described does not occur in every bill fold, constructed as de.

scribed, nor under all conditions of service. It occurs only when the bill fold is well stuffed with bills and it is more liable to occur with rough surfaced leathers than with smooth leathers. It is also more liable to occur after the bill fold has been in use for a long time and the leather has become extremely soft and pliable. The example given, even if an unusual condition, will serve to point out that there is a tendency inherent in the construction to cause binding of the member 23 near its lower edge and, with this tendency present, trouble is liable to occur the moment that there is some other accompanying unfavorable factor present, such as an overload in the bill compartment, or leather which is toc rough in texture or too soft and pliable.

This invention is intended to eradicate the aforesaid tendency and prevent as far as possible the troubles above described, from occurring even under disadvantageous conditions, such as those enumerated. The flaps 25, if cut as shown in Fig. 3, present inner edges 21 which are upwardly converging. Such an arrangement, even if the lower ends of flaps 25 were much closer together,

would of itself tend to equalize the fricticnal resistance to sliding movement of member 23 and make it more nearly uniform at every point across its width; There will be less pinching of the member 23 at its lower edge because a less length of the ap 25 will be engaged withl such edge than at a higher location. As a matter of fact, I prefer to have the flaps 25 entirely above such lower edge, leaving the member 23 entirely free of the flaps over the larger part of its area and particularly its lower area, more. as shown in Figs. 8 and 9. But even with the arrangement shown in Fig. 3, the desired result is accomplished to a satisfactory degree because the bills b do not press on the lower parts of flaps 25 (see Fig. 1). With this arrangement, when the bill fold is folded, the member 23 will start to fold about line 24 and it will remain stationary, while the walls 20 and flaps 25 move in relatively to it. The tendency, above described, to bend the memer 23 over the inner end of flaps 25 will not cause trouble here, even if the bending occurs, because the bend cannot be a sharp one near the lower edge ofmember 23. 'Ihe distance measured along the lower edge of member 23 from the line of fold 24 to the ap 25 is so long that, even if the member does bend backwardly relatively to the lower corner of flap 25, the angle will be an obtuse one and will not interfere with the feeding in of the member 23 between the flaps 25 and sections 2U. Thus the downwardly diverging edges 21 enable this member to be fed into place more easily by progressively decrees# i ing the area of resistance presented by flaps 25 to member 23 and progressively increasing the spacing of the edges of these aps, about which edges the member 23 must bend, from a maximum near the upper edge of member 23 to a minimum near the lower edge thereof.

It should also be noted that in the prior art bill folds there is a marked tendency for the bills b to buckle. The innermost bill bends about a shorter radius than the outermost and, unless the bills can slide freely, one on another, buckling of those bills near the inner wall of the bill fold is liable to occur. In the prior art bill fold shown in Figs. 6 and 7 the greater part of the inner wall exposed to the innermost bill consists of the flaps 25', which are attached to and move with the outer walls. They therefore move in and tend to push the bill, which is in contact therewith, in-

wardly from opposite ends, tending to crumple it in the center. There is a tendency to push this bill inwardly from opposite ends, when the bill fold is well stuffed with bills, so that the inner bills are pressed tightly into contact with flaps 25. The inner bills are moved inwardly with these flaps by the frietional engagement and at a time when the greatest need exists for them to be free to move outwardly. By cutting away these lla-ps and making them like the flaps 25 or better yet like the flaps 35, the inner bills, under the same conditions, are pressed against that section of the inner wall which can slide rela.- vtively to the outer wall. The inner bills tend to hug thesection 23 or the section 35, as the case may be, and to remain relatively stationary there-l with. while the sections 2G and flaps 25 move inwardly. The ultimate limit in securing the desired result would be to have the entire inner wall free cf the outer wall and lthis limit has been approached very closely with the structure shown in Figs. 8 and 9. It has been approached less closely with the structure shown in Fig. 1 but still closely enough to make the bill fold workable to a commercially satisfactory degree. In the bill fold of Fig. 1, over half the area of the inner bill contacts with member 23. Hence, there is a greater tendency for the bills to remain engaged with member 23 than to be moved inwardly by the flaps 25.

The use of a partition, such as 4I, accentuates the diiculties above enumerated. It is fastened to and moves with memb-er 23 and the flaps 25 lie in between. With a well stuffed bill fold, these members 25 and 23, which should be freely slidable, arey pressedin against opposite sides of the flaps 25 which are fixed to the outer wall. The pressure of the bills in the compartment between the partition 4I and flaps 25 in no way alters the result. There is pressure on opposite sides of these aps and it becomes most important to reduce their area to a minimum.

The centralizing means for the members 23 or 35 is important and contributes to the attainment of the desired result by insuring that the line of fold, such as 24 or 4i), overlies the line of fold I6 or 39, respectively, in the outer wall at the start of the bending of these members. In other words, the bend in member 23 or 35 is made to occur always in the same place. Without this provision, the bending would start along various lines at various times in a more or less haphazard manner with the result that the leather would soon be broken down over a central area of substantial width and become so soft that it would crumple rather than feed into its tubular end sections.

While the centralizing feature is disclosed broadly in my prior patent, above identified, no

means are there disclosed which are applicable except in bill folds having partitions. Many bill folds have no partitions and it becomes necessary to provide a centralizing means which is applicable generally to all bill folds. irrespective of whether or not they have partitions.

The invention marks a distinct step in advance in the bill fold art by providing for the bill adjacent the inner wall to contact with the central and relatively movable section thereof over the greater part of its area. The predominating area of contact is with such central section and the area of contact with the stationary flaps 25 is of inferior degree. It affords an arrangement for facilitating the sliding of the central section by relieving the area of the flaps in contact with it, especially near the lower ends thereof, and substantially overcomes the tendency inherent in the prior art construction, for the central section to buckle under certain conditions set forth above.

The invention has been disclosed herein for illustrative purposes but the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description.

I claim:

1. A flexible pocket receptacle, comprising an outer Wall having intermediate its ends a transverse line of fold, outer end sections disposed one on each side of said line of fold and secured along their outer 'end edges and lower side edges to the corresponding edges of the outer wall, a section bridging the gap between said outer end sections and having its ends overlapping and slidable relatively thereto, and inner end sections secured one to the upper edge of each outer section and extending between said bridging section and the outer wall, a slot provided in the connection between the upper edges of the inner and outer end sections, and projections one near each end of said bridging member extending one into each said slot for centralizing said bridging member with respect to the end members when the bill feld is opened.

2. A flexible pocket receptacle, comprising, an outer wall having intermediate its ends a transverse line of fold, flaps superposed on said outer ried in said compartment, said inner wall being v free from connection to the outer wall and flaps and mounted for limited sliding movement in a longitudinal direction in said compartment with its lower edge resting on the restricted bottom of said compartment, and retaining aps connected oneto each of the first named flaps along the upper edge thereof and extending downwardly between said inner and outer walls part way toward but not to'the restricted bottom of said compartment and leaving the lower portion of said inner wall throughout its entire length exposed in said compartment.

3. A flexible pocket receptacle. comprising, an outer wall having intermediate its ends a transverse line of fold, fiaps superposed on said outer wall one at each end thereof and on opposite sides of said line of fold, each said flap being connected along its outer end edge and lower side edge to the adjacent end edge and to the lower side edge respectively of the outer wall, said wall and said flaps near the connected edges converging to such edges. whereby the compartment formed between said wall and flaps is restricted along the bottom and both ends, an inner wall substantially coextensive in length with the outer wall and at least as long as the papers to be carried in said compartment, said inner wall being free from connection to the outer wall and flaps and mounted for limited sliding movement in a longitudinal direction in said compartment with its lower edge resting on the restricted bottom of said compartment, and retaining flaps connected one to each of the Ifirst named flaps along the upper edge thereof and extending downwardly between said inner and outer walls not more than half way toward the restricted bottom of said compartment and engaging the upper and outer corners only of said inner Wall, leaving the entire lower half of the inner wall and the major portion of the upper half of the inner wall exposed in said compartment.

4. A flexible pocket receptacle, comprising, an

outer wall having intermediate its ends a transverse line of fold, inner wall end sections disposed one on each side of said line of fold in spaced relation and each secured along its lower side edge and outer end edge to the lower side edge and an outer end edge of the outer wall, each said section composed of two plies connected together along their upper side edges, an inner wall member bridging the gap between said end sections and having its ends overlapping and slidably received between the plies of said end sections, a longitudinally disposed slot in each end section, and longitudinally-spaced projections on the upper portion of said inner wall member and extending one into each said slot for centralizing said inner wall member with respect to the end P sections when the receptacle is opened.

WARNER R. BUXTON. 

